Well, after only 3 days, I think I know I destroyed something, but I'm not sure what specifically yet due to all my stalling and bucking...lol. We are taking it to TM Engineering to get it checked out and see what is going on. If there is extensive damage, I will ship car back to PHR to repair/replace everything. I am 99.9% sure the clutch is already gone. I'm thinking of replacing the clutch with the Carbon/Carbon clutch.

As for further modifications, I am buying every brace/link by Toms and replacing the HKS springs with the HKS Hypermax Damper 2 coilovers. Some further modifications I have thought about were replacing the rear wheels & tires with wider ones and buying an additional wheel for the spare (I'm not exactly sure why I need 7 forgeline wheels) and upgrading the audio system.

I realized, after 30 minutes of driving that car on Saturday, that manual transmission are for archaic people who don't realize nor want to admit that automatic transmission is the only way to go when driving a motorized vehicle. I mean, who the heck wants to spend all that effort to make the car move. Life is complicated as it is already. On my LS 400, I just pop it into "D" and hit the gas pedal and move. Because of this, I deteremined 99% that my next car will be an automatic.

I forgot to mention, the IS 300 can move. Jarrett said it had an 8800 RPM speed limiter. Unfortunately, I think the car's speed limiter only goes up to 8000 so it's hard to gauge where 8800 is. Anyways, we shift between 7-7.5K....when I shift, the rev limiter falls back down to 2K by the time I engage the next gear. HAHAHA!

Ethan

 

I've driven manual forever, it's like second nature to me, I feel funny driving auto, every once and a while I go to push in the clutch and accidentally push that big ugly brake pedal with my left foot, oops to the people behind me. I love having a manual in my IS, kinda crosses it between a sedan and a sports car.


BTW - Gonna sell your springs?

 

SDuquette,

I think I am keeping the springs for now. I totally understand for those who have driven manual forever, it's second nature. Unfortunately, this is my first time and I have to actually put in my calendar to go out at a certain time and practice (which is a true pain in the butt 'cuz I stall really hard about 5-7 times in a 1 hr session).

Ethan

 

Ethan, upgrading the audio system huh? You know who to see.....

 

ethan, that's why you should never try to learn stick shift on a car with race clutch

 

I know I know...it's my fault for thinking "this can't be so hard". Well, expensive lesson but I'll accept it and move on.

Ethan

 

hahaa, well, just make sure you don't attend this expensive lesson again

 

Actually, don't feel too bad, I stalled a 330ci leaving the dealership on a test drive, I was rather embarrassed,

 

Ethan why don't you just get a beater car and practice stick on that. I was really bad at driving stick when I first started. But after a while you get used to it. The hardest part is getting into first and starting when you are on a hill. I used to put the e- brake on a little when I was on hills so that I would not roll back. Just practice.

 

.....I will never own another manual tranny, unless it's a Porsche or NSX...my little IS 300 with the drive by wire throttle response easily is quicker than manual transmission.....plus I can use my cell phone, drink my quad-shot mocha valencia, and change CD's...without having to shift stupid gears

....always AUTO

 

I could do all these things while driving my 5 speed...

 

Oh no! A manual vs. automatic fight!!!!!

 

The official position of ClubLexus is....

"automatic transmission is the best", period, exclaimation point, end of discussion.



Ethan

 

dictatorship at its best

 

Ethan,

Man...I almost feel sorry for your IS.

You MUST go get a manual beater to learn. Learning to drive manual on such an exotic IS300 is asking for some very expensive lessons. Not to mention, it can possibly cost you wrecking the whole car, your life and others..... Playing with a machine like that without the necessary driving skills is just asking for trouble. You are AT LEAST 3mths away from really appreciating and safely driving that car as learning to drive manual is NOT something that can be done overnight or even a few weeks....especially a beast like the one you have.

IMO, the best upgrade you can do is improving your own driving skills. I think you should really rethink the direction you are headed in. One day....you WILL enjoy the manual tranny. Until then....get practicing!